"In the words of Francis of Assisi as he met Brother Dominic on the road to Umbria, hi." –Brennan Manning

Just Kidding, Says Grudem, I’m Still With Trump

Last week, after shocking video footage surfaced of Donald Trump treating the Access Hollywood tour bus as his own personal locker room, Wayne Grudem pulled his support from Donald Trump and called on him to step aside. Grudem had been a staunch supporter of Donald Trump; he even wrote a 5,000-word article arguing that you, as a follower of Jesus Christ, have a moral imperative to excuse the inexcusable and defend the indefensible in support of Donald Trump. It seemed as though Grudem was at last coming to his senses. But now Grudem has reversed field and is back with Donald Trump.

After I saw the shocking 2005 video with Trump talking about his sexual aggression against women, I wrote, “There is no morally good presidential candidate in this election.” I condemned Trump’s immoral conduct and said I did not know how I would vote. I asked Townhall.com to remove my earlier article, “Why Voting for Donald Trump Is a Morally Good Choice.” I urged Trump to withdraw, hoping we could get a better candidate.

The liberal media loved this. “Evangelical theologian calls on Trump to withdraw.” I suddenly had more requests for interviews from mainstream news organizations than ever in my lifetime. I turned them all down.

And Trump did not withdraw.

Now, how should I vote?

Voting for Clinton and her ultraliberal policies is not an option for me as an evangelical Christian. Therefore I am left with two options: (1) vote for Trump, or (2) vote for a third-party candidate whose hopes of winning belong to fantasy, not reality.

And if these are my only two options, then voting for a third-party candidate has the clear effect of helping to elect Clinton, because it is taking my vote away from Trump. That is why the liberal media loved it when I said I was finding it hard to decide.

It also means that my two options are actually this: (1) vote for Trump, or (2) help Hillary Clinton get elected.

Once I put the choice in those stark terms, there is a good way to make a decision. Since I find both candidates morally objectionable, I am back to the old-fashioned basis on which I have usually decided how to vote for my entire life: Whose policies are better? Do I agree more with Trump’s policies or with Clinton’s?

It isn’t even close. I overwhelmingly support Trump’s policies and believe that Clinton’s policies will seriously damage the nation, perhaps forever. On the Supreme Court, abortion, religious liberty, sexual orientation regulations, taxes, economic growth, the minimum wage, school choice, Obamacare, protection from terrorists, immigration, the military, energy, and safety in our cities, I think Trump is far better than Clinton (see below for details). Again and again, Trump supports the policies I advocated in my 2010 book Politics According to the Bible.

Translation: (1) I am a Republican. (2) Hillary is a Democrat. Therefore, (3) Hillary is the Antichrist, so (4) I’m with Donald Trump.

Look people, I’ve said this before and will say it again: Donald Trump is an idiot. He says and does the most spectacularly inane things anytime the cameras are on him. He has run multiple businesses into the ground. He has his own ideas about what constitutes good work and whether people should be paid for it, not to mention his own ideas about how much taxes he should have to pay. He knows less about foreign affairs than your middle-school-aged child, and doesn’t give a shit. He routinely traffics in the most absurd, bizarre, outlandish conspiracy theories, including that long-debunked yet stubbornly persistent urban myth that vaccines cause autism. His message is nothing more than anger and hatred for Mexicans, Muslims and other minorities, the dehumanization and objectification of women, and a good hard dose of Donald Trump to solve all the world’s problems.

This man toxic waste dump should never in a million years be allowed within a million miles of the nuclear codes.

Donald Trump is the spoonful of sewage that turns an entire barrelful of wine into sewage. This candidate is so toxic that one cannot possibly support him without becoming likewise tainted.

And yet, for most of this election cycle at least, evangelicalism has been all over Donald Trump like white on rice. Why? Because (1) We’re Republican, (2) Hillary is a Democrat, therefore (3) Hillary is the Antichrist, so (4) We’re with Trump.

It’s all about that Supreme Court majority, baby. Because only a Supreme court appointed by Donald Trump can protect our cherished Christian values. Never mind that Donald Trump is the exact opposite of our cherished Christian values. Never mind that all the horrible things we say about Hillary are a mixture of truth, half-truths and outright lies. Never mind that we’ve had a Supreme Court majority (or close to it) for the past three to four decades at least and still Roe v. Wade is perfectly intact. We’re all about that Supreme Court majority so we can make abortion illegal and keep our religious freedom to not do business with queers.

Donald Trump is toxic. One does not support Donald Trump without becoming likewise contaminated. The religious right, and a goodly portion of American evangelicalism to boot, are now irreparably tainted as a result.

One does not support Donald Trump without screaming “FUCK YOU” to women, minorities, and others with whom God is manifestly concerned and commands us to show His love.

Mr Grudem: Go ahead and pull that lever for Donald Trump on November 8. And then just try and look your female and non-white students in the eye the next day. Good luck with that.

Every person you will ever come eyeball-to-eyeball with is a person for whom Christ died. Yet Donald Trump wants us to believe that some of those people count for nothing because they are women or immigrants or minorities. Grudem wants us to believe that this counts for nothing. It doesn’t, people.

Ask yourself the question: What does love require of me? If you can make a compelling case that what love requires of you is to vote for a candidate whose message is nothing more than anger, hatred, dehumanization and objectification of women, and a sheer, unbridled lust for power, then hey, go do it. And then look your wife in the eye. Look your daughter in the eye. Just try it.